The Genious of The Hole
by TheSecretoLife
Summary: Chapter 11 is done, Things start to get kinda wierd from here on in.
1. The Genious of The Hole

What makes the hole such a monstrous creation? No matter how long you spend trying to crawl out, you could fall back down in an instant.  
  
I was falling fast, really fast. I would be dead in seconds. It honestly didn't matter to me, dead .........alive I no longer saw a difference. There was only 1 thing in my mind, those eyes. The eyes of a devil and the eyes of an angel. They haunted me, I had been used like a tool. I took out some bolts, screwed some back in, and was tossed away. I always thought I was the best; no one could touch me. I had reached my peak. I had become the youngest leader of all time. I felt godly, but the truth was that i was just a naive 18-year-old punk seeking truth and a way out. I realized I was about to die, falling inches away from the ground. It was happening again, time had stopped. I could live a whole lifetime in an instant, if i tried hard enough. That was the case this time. As fast as my life flashed by I had hit the ground. I hadn't felt such pain before. If the internal injuries didn't kill me, Id go crazy from the pain. After 2 or 3 minutes of hoping for death I decided to make a crawl for it. My masters words still ringing in my head, "There are 2 choices u can make in life, you can lie there and hope to bleed to death, or u can crawl, try to make things right " I felt like a turtle stuck on his back, just trying to get enough momentum to move. But no matter how long a turtle struggles it can never get up. I had given up, the one thing I said I'd never do. While I was lying on my back that same car pulled up, with those screeching tires and blue neons. That's when the true flashback started, the flashback of my life, the life of Cid Marcus, not the life of Loki.


	2. The Cycle

When looking back I realized how pointless my life had been, Id lived to serve others even when I knew I was the strongest. I was primarily used for fighting, that was the one thing i was great at, that's even how it all started with a fight 4 years ago. Back then I was innocent, but that didn't last long. I was a cool kid, was always the one that couldn't be taken seriously because I wouldn't take anything seriously myself. I would piss people off; especially people that deserved it, id stick up for the little guy rather than pick on them. If I saw some faggot stealing or picking a fight with a little guy I would kick his ass. I had become " the savior" as some losers called me. I wasn't friends with these people but i always had a sense of justice, pretty surprising how I turned up huh? I had primarily 3 friends. My best friend, Jack Basseto was a really cool guy. This kid was like 6'3 in 9th grade. He had short blonde hair and was built like a machine; this kid was raw power. He like me primarily listened to Metal but every once in a while we'd hear some jazz or something and listen to it. He played almost every sport except for wrestling, thought it was pretty fruity. He like me was a pretty good fighter, he didn't know any martial arts but he was a born street fighter. He was much cooler than I was because he talked to more people than I did; I was pretty secluded. Jack had the strangest eyes I've ever seen, both eyes were dark red so they gave the impression that they were bleeding, I thought they were cool though reminded me of a devils eyes. Jack had a cousin sister named Alice; she was cool but not as cool as he was. She had blond hair also, but by this time it had been dyed black, I personally thought she looked 100 times better that way. She had brown eyes that were really penetrating; she was more intimidating than her brother. If she hadn't been so frightening I would have asked her out a long time ago. This kid wasn't just pretty she was a genius, she was younger but she was skipped up a grade when she was like 6. Something like her being able to read at an 8th grade level back then. These were my 2 best friends but then there was Maurice and Alex. Maurice was what we liked to call " the immigrant, but mostly spud because he was Irish". He was really tan, you would sometimes think that he was a Spanish or something. He had black hair and was pretty tall; we were both tall. We were both around 6'1 and 6'2; he had great instincts and was a known gambler. He wasn't very smart though, he spent most of his time on his computer looking at porn or who knows what, but without him I would probably be dead. Well my name is Cid; I was a cool kid in my opinion. I was 6'1 and had blue eyes; in my right eye I had a freckle. I have no idea how it got there, but it was always one of my cooler traits. I had black hair that was really curly, so it would grow up 10 inches before it would grow down. Aside from being defender of the week i was also a pretty funny guy. I made jokes in class and would study the way comedians told their jokes. Oh yeah, I was also a jeet keen do master, for those of you that are Bruce lee-impaired, jeet keen do is a form of martial arts that combines street fighting with karate. I wasn't a master yet but I was getting there, i had started when I was 5. Fighting was really my specialty; I could knock out people twice my size. That's really how my little adventure started, with a fight. Always fighting, my life cycles around it. 


	3. Legendary

It was an average day in New Haven. It was normal Mars weather; that day was raining a lot and I mean ALLOT. If you were a dog or cat just walking on the street you would have drowned. The school day had just finished like it always did, Jack was playing football and I was busy at detention. I think I called a teacher a fag or something. I normally spent my detentions in the library because I was always a fan of reading. As long as I didn't steal anything teachers wouldn't have a problem with me being there. Today was in the art room, I had some projects due and I thought I might as well finish them. It was a lucky break. I had been working on my pointillism piece for 30 minutes, it was a picture of a tiger and a dragon fighting over a jewel; I would have got a 100 on it for sure. You can only push a q- tip onto paper for so long before the boredom starts to kick in. I found my eyes drifting to the window, there were some girls out there in a circle they were yelling about something, I don't often pay much attention to girls like them and they always have some sort of mental issue. In the middle of the circle I saw a girl dressed in black, this was weird because the snobs usually wore light colors. That's when it hit me, that girl in black was Alice. She was being picked on by those stupid ass wipes, I wasn't worried though; Alice could handle herself. She would come up with some kind of great comeback they'd leave cursing and shed be on her way. I was starting to get worried when Alice started clenching her fist, she wasn't a fighter I doubt she could handle 2 girls let alone 10 or 15. I was just watching them, waiting to see what was happening. Honestly nothing was happening, no one was saying anything or even moving. I saw Alice start to walk away. That's when I decided everything was fine, until I saw who was walking towards her. It was Jeff. Jeff was friends' with the girls from before; he was sister with one of the girls. I think her name was Daniel or something. Jeff was a crazy kid; he'd picked a fight with about everyone on Mars. It wouldn't be surprising if he slapped Alice; I knew it was time for me to step in. The Art teacher Mrs.P had left the room so I just snook out. I made a run for the group of girls. Apparently Jeff had spotted me and had averted his attention away from Alice and was focusing on me. "Here comes Marcus here to save the day," said Jeff. Jeff was a junior; he was about 6'3 and 250 pounds. He had really long black hair and brown eyes. He wasn't the smartest kid in school, but he certainly wasn't the dumbest. There were rumors going around that he was being drafted into the White Tiger syndicate. His older brother was a pretty high-ranking member, he had enough connections to get Jeff a great master and in a matter of years he could be a colonel. Jeff may have been allot stronger than I was, but I still was faster and at 6'1 I wasn't all that weak either. He seemed to know what I was thinking, the idiot started to tense up as though he would anticipate my attack. I was in no mood for a fight, I would just psyche him out by confusing him. "So nice weather were having, the rain really brings out the best in the mud", I wasn't making much sense but against this guy I didn't have to. "Back off Cid, this doesn't involve you. I just have to do a little favor and I'll be on my way." He really thought I didn't know what he meant; he was stupider than I thought. Apparently the other kids knew what was going on they had made a circle around the two of us and a lot of them were placing bets on who would win. I could see Jeff wanted to fight me, he was a bully and I was usually the one who stood against them, it was almost his right to fight me. He was probably the only jackass in the school who I hadn't fought. Instead of fighting right there on the lawn we decided to take it to the ditch. The ditch was a huge circle of grass in the middle of the street, it wasn't a place for brawls it was a place for true fights. A place where people fought for superiority not out of anger. Not many people knew about it only people involved in syndicates or people who usually fought there. Today not many people were driving around there; there was one black car with tinted windows circling around us. Probably some stupid college guy looking for entertainment. Before the fight we had the stare down, it was typical. We each try to predict our opponents next move while trying to think of what attack we would do. I figured I would wing it, when he attacked I would dodge and counter. After maybe 30 seconds of planning Jeff realized it was now or never, he threw a punch with his right hand. I adjusted my body at the right moment grabbed his arm and flipped him over. I expected him to stay down but I couldn't be more wrong, right after I flipped him he managed to land crouching. He attempted a spin kick when he was on the ground, it was a great kick too, would have knocked me down if I didn't jump at the right time. The strange thing was he seemed to know I would jump because he bounced up immediately and tackled me in mid-air; I guess he was already being trained. It hurt really badly; I honestly thought that I was going to break my back when I fell. The descent took a very long time. All I could see was him hovering right at my level, we must have been six feet off the ground, and then time froze. Sometimes when I fight or train time will not only slow down it will freeze, I have enough time to analyze what's going on and react. I saw that I was perpendicular to the ground and I was flipping over, Jeff was getting ready to finish me off, looked like he was trying to execute a combo move like he was in a video game. When time reverted I had my plan, I would use my own momentum against him. I tightened my legs to execute a flip kick; it caught him right in the jaw. It was like it was right out of Enter The Dragon. When time reverted back to normal Jeff was on the ground with all of his jaw broken. I was in a crouching position and the kids were cheering, this wasn't your ordinary fight it was.... Legendary. I would be immortalized; no one thought anyone could do that. I had defied all the standards, all the limitations placed on freshman. I had changed the rules. I never knew I could do something like that. I must have been better than I thought. After 10 minutes I decided to go home, I was tired I needed a nap. Shortly after I started walking I realized the black car from before was following me. Instead of running I decided to see what was up, so I stopped in the middle of the street. Slowly the car doors opened and 2 men dressed in black suits walked out of the car. One man was very tall and very strong looking, the other man looked as though he was in his early thirties he was very tan and not very tall. He approached me and said, "Are you cid Marcus, the brother of Allen?" I nodded my head. "Be here tomorrow at 10 o'clock, come with Allen, tell him that its time, he'll no what it means" and after that he was off. I didn't need Allen to explain this to me, I had seen him go through it before I had been drafted. 


	4. Late Goodbye

So I was drafted, I knew it would happen sometime, but now? I was 14 fucking years old; I didn't know anything about the dragons. All I knew was that they drafted high school kids and turned them into assassins and bodyguards. My brother Allen was a member. He was picked up when he was a senior and was being trained to be a low-level assassin. That was all I really knew, I never cared much about the Red Dragons; I actually wanted to be part of the White Tigers. They seemed like they had more fun, they would walk around in the streets partying and got to wear these really cool trench coats. I may have known what being drafted was, but I'd have to ask Allen about the rest. I got home at about 7:00 that evening, my mom was sleeping like usual and my dad was working. My mom was a pretty tall red haired woman. . She usually was tired because she had to work nights. My dad was a really tall guy with black hair; he was the one who taught me jeet-keen do. The ironic thing about my parents' occupation was that they were cowboys. Well not literally, they were bounty hunters. It was there job to catch people like my brother. They used to be cops but then realized how much they hated their jobs and decided to become hunters. I would usually let myself in when I got home from school; it was odd to see my mom home without my dad. I decided to skip dinner, I wasn't really hungry. I sat up looking at my ceiling, just pondering what I had gotten myself into. I wondered if anyone knew yet, I'm sure Maurice would know and if He knew, Alex would rip the info out of him. The two of them really wanted to be Dragons, they always talked about the crime wars and they never hung out with anyone from the Tigers. After a few minutes of daydreaming I fell asleep. I expected to have a dream; with all that was running through my mind I thought that I would have at least one hallucination. I woke up to the sound of someone screaming, it sounded something like Alice's' voice. When my eyes were open I saw Allen standing in front of me. Allen was 22 at the time, he had long black hair and piercing blue eyes, he looked something like I did. He was wearing his Dragons uniform; in the light he looked godly. My brother was everything I hoped to be and then some. "So squirt, I heard what happened. Good job. You and your little friends are the youngest kids ever drafted into the Dragons, you should feel proud. I also heard about that fight, I have to train you some more. You should never have let that kid catch you off guard." Allen could always raise someone's hopes and then dash them in an instant. "What do you mean my little friends, I thought you said I was the youngest ever drafted, what the hell are you talking about?" What was he talking about, he really wasn't making sense? "Those punks Alex and Maurice got in also, they beat up a tiger and Mao decided to start their training" my brother thought that he knew it all." Now we've got to go get you something's before your initiation, you need a weapon, a uniform and a name".  
  
That night we left home; we drove all the way to Invar, weapon center of Mars. My brother was driving a car much like the black one that was circling the ditch. They must give one to the members. When we were driving I had no idea what was in store for me, I didn't know what was happening with Jack and Alice, I wondered what happened with Spud and Alex and I wondered what was going to happen to mom and dad, little did I know that I would never see them again. Well mom and dad this is my late good bye.  
  
In my head lights,  
starin bleak, beer cans, dears eyes,  
on the asphalt, underneath,  
are crushed plants and my lies.  
Lonely streets signs power lines they keep on flashing by,  
flashing by.  
  
And we keep driving into the night, its a late goodbye, such a late goodbye.  
and we keep driving into the night, its a late goodbye, a late goodbye.  
  
Screamin stop signs, staring while eyes keep on flashing by,  
  
And we keep driving into the night, its a late goodbye such a late goodbye.  
  
The Fall  
  
I had no idea what my weapon or uniform would be, but I knew what my codename would be. I would be known as Loki. The god of destruction. 


	5. The Destined

We arrived at Invar at 3:00 that morning; I was exhausted. The city was so different from what I had expected. There were bums sleeping everywhere, people were walking aimlessly, and dogs were desperately searching for scraps of food. While Allen and I were walking we were getting allot of awkward glances. It wasn't very surprising though; my brother was a very high-ranking Dragon member. He knew allot of people and had done allot of things. When we were walking down a main road when we came across Squire's. The now infamous Jean Squire ran Squire's. Jean had once been a very powerful Red Dragons member, but about 20 years ago he faked he broke away from the syndicate and formed his shop. Squire sold weapons to Syndicate members, if you were looking for a weapon he would have the very one you needed and a spare incase you broke it. His store was enormous; there were shelves and shelves of what looked like guns, scattered along the walls were swords, and in boxes were countless amounts of bullets. It looked like Satan ran this store. Jean was working behind the counter when we first entered. He was a man standing about 6'1 and looked pretty fat. He had to be over 230 pounds, he was balding and had his entire left arm covered with tattoos. He was nothing like what I thought he would be. As he slowly turned around he seemed to notice my brother, he seemed to have been expecting us.  
  
"So the little Marcus is finally a dragon huh? You should feel pretty proud little guy, you're the youngest member up to date. You had better watch yourself though; this is not a world for children." I had just met this guy and I already hated his guts. He seemed to know what he was talking about though, he had been a member since the syndicate originated.  
  
"Jeany, were hear to get Cid a weapon. The moron doesn't know what type he wants yet so what would you have in mind. He knows Jeet keen-do, you might want to factor that in when finding him something." I knew my brother was angry because I didn't want a gun. I thought that they were too simple to use. I wanted something a little harder that would affect my style.  
  
Jean seemed to already have something in mind. "Well if he doesn't want a gun we can give him a katana or maybe a knife. Or, we could give him the new, I'll be right back." Jean seemed to rush back to the storeroom; he looked very excited. Jean came back with a long blue box. Jean was so excited that when he tried to talk, but he started to stutter." Well we jjjjjjust got this shipped in. It's not a kkatana its an old saber from earth, its said to be hundreds of years old. The blade was 4 feet long; the base was navy blue fabric. Crawling up the blade of the sword was a picture of a dragon reaching for a pearl.  
  
I was amazed at the great weapon; I had never seen anything like it before. The shine of the crisp metal intrigued me all the more, but why did I deserve this sword, I had not worked for it, I wasn't even capable of wielding it. "Hey, Squire! What's the sword called? Shouldn't I start with a katana or something?" I honestly had no clue what I was talking about  
  
"Well first of all the swords name is Alostor, it's said to have been wielded by famous swordsman on earth and why should you be able to wield it. There's really only one reason, you can. I can see in the way you move, your posture even the way you arrogantly ask your questions, I think you were destined to have this sword." Maybe this Jean guy was crazy, I was 14 I couldn't even bench 100 pounds how would I be able to learn how to fight with a sword like this.  
  
"Kid you don't have a choice I'm the best armory in town and this is the only weapon I'll sell you, in fact, I'll give it to you. I think you can do great things for the syndicate with this baby." Jean said all these things as though he had known me all my life, in reality he didn't know the first thing about me. He abruptly handed me the sword, I was amazed at how light it was. I took it out of the box and decided to try swinging it. It felt like I was carrying a feather, there was no way it could possibly be this light unless it really was designed for me. Hmm, a sword of all my own. This could be my good karma paying off. Allen and I left the store before Jean even had a chance to speak. This sword would start my legacy. 


	6. Oblivion

Well I had Alostor, which meant that I had my weapon. When I was walking down the street I saw the faces of onlookers, they were terrified of my brother and I. I had nowhere to hide my sword so it was protruding as a knife in the chest. I still needed a uniform though. I was thinking along the lines of a leather jacket with really dark blue jeans, I thought that would look cool. Allen took me to a store that specifically sold clothes to members of the syndicate. The store was huge; it was a familiar pattern. I didn't see anyone there so I couldn't really ask questions. The clothes didn't matter much to me, I thought that the sword was the only thing that mattered. I was walking down one of the aisles when something caught my eye; it was a huge blood red trench coat, covered in holes and rips. It looks like it had been used before. I'm not sure why I thought it was cool I would stand out in a crowd like a soar thumb. Something was calling out to me though; it was as though it was made for me. Full of holes although still in one piece, much like my conscious. Something told me someone died in it, that bullets had ripped through the hard leather of this jacket. The condition of the jacket didn't matter to me, I wanted it. I had no money, so I decided to just walkout with it. The coat was so large I could hide my sword in it; I wouldn't be getting any glares from onlookers. As I stepped outside I saw that daybreak had come hours ago, it was noon and I realized that I was starving. I desperately wanted to eat but Allen said we had to get before 10:00 so we could meet the men in the black car. I just stared out the window during the entire car ride home; I was thinking how I had gotten myself into this situation, I had gotten into a fight, there had been hundreds of fights; what was so significant about this one. I was also thinking how Maurice and Alex had gotten in? They were never great fighters; I doubt they could have beaten a trained member of the Tigers. I was surprised at what I saw. We arrived home at about 5:00, it wasn't my home it was Allen's home. It was a semi-large apartment with a view of the hazy New Haven city. Allen had two other roommates, Canto and Diane, better known as Cooper and Fox. Creed was my brother's age; they had been drafted together and quickly became friends. Copper had light green eyes and blonde hair; he had a huge scar right across his cheek. He had been sitting there flipping his lucky penny. My presence didn't seem to stir him at all, he just sat there flipping the coin. To get his attention I quickly grabbed the coin out of the air and arrogantly tossed it back to him.  
  
"So this is the infamous Allen Jr, you got some pretty smooth reflexes kid. Your gonna go through hell and back before you'll even be able to think you're on our level, unless of course you're an idiot, but if you were an idiot you would be a Tiger." I didn't like this guy, he was full of himself, but something told me he had the right to be.  
  
In my opinion Fox was beautiful, she had dark brown hair almost as stunning as her pitch black eyes. She was pretty "well rounded" if u get my drift and was very smart. She could lie her way out of everything, she didn't talk very often but when she did she wouldn't shut up. I thought that she liked to hear her own voice but so did a bunch of other guys. I wasn't in the mood to have a conversation right now so I just went to my new room. It was painted blood red, pretty cool coincidence huh? There was a huge flat screen TV and an awesome looking stereo, these guys made a pretty descent living, but the best thing was that I got to share a room with Fox. They probably thought that since I was only 14 that I wasn't a perverted monkey. Well I was exhausted from the car ride and decided to take a nap, how hardcore I was, taking a nap because of a car ride. Well I woke up at 8:30 to a huge pounding on my chest. I slowly opened my eyes to see that Fox was sitting on my chest. I had about 300 scenarios running through my head at that time but they were all halted when I that she was carrying a needle. I was just staring up at her eyes, I wasn't confused and I wasn't happy. I was just drifting in and out of reality. For the first time I heard Fox start to talk.  
"Rule one................................ Never trust the girl", She was speaking as though she had some kind of experience with this kind of subject but I had no idea what she was talking about and with that she took the needle and she pushed it into my left nostril. She was crazy; what the hell was she doing? She then took a stud out of you ear and shoved it into the newly formed hole in my nose. The crazy chick had just pierced my nose, during all the excitement I didn't notice how painful it all was. Then she ran away like nothing had happened. I ran to a bathroom to see what it looked like, aside from the blood it looked pretty cool. I looked through the drawers for a tissue to wipe the blood off of my face. In the bottom drawer I found something that looked like hair dye, it was red. It wasn't the type of color that was natural red it was blood red or ox red. I figured since no one would use it that I might as well use it. When the dye had dried I looked like a totally different person, I had a new face, I didn't look like the high school kid with the sense of justice. Now I was the hard ass street punk, I wondered if my personality would change.  
"Cid we've got to go, the ditch is calling you", said Allen. It was 20 to 10 we had to go. It was pitch black outside and it was freezing. At 10 on the dot that same black car pulled up with the same men inside it.  
  
"Hello Cid, welcome to the beginning of your new life, welcome to the Dragons. My name is Mao Yenrai and I'll be your new master", then we drove off into the night into emptiness. 


	7. Similar Opposites

I couldn't believe who I was sitting next to; I was inches away from Mao  
Yenrai. Mao was once the greatest Red Dragons assassin; he had worked his  
way up to the leader of the attack squad. He looked just like any average  
man; there was nothing strange about him. He had done so much for the  
syndicate it was like looking at a profit of god. I was in the presence of  
the best there was and the best there would probably ever be, it would only  
be a matter of years before he took over. I was afraid to talk to him  
thinking that I'd look like a moron, but I decided to end the awkward  
silence. There were 5 other people in the car besides for Mao and I. There  
was Allen, two bodyguards a girl that looked to be about my age and an  
older looking dude. The silence was really starting to get to me, I was  
about to explode. I decided that it would be a good idea to take the  
initiative and signify myself as an aggressor.  
"Hi I'm Cid, were you guys just drafted als" Before I could finish  
the last word Mao cut me off.  
"The best way to establish yourself is to not start the battle but  
to take it head on and finish it, and also your name is not important  
anymore you will all be called by whatever your chosen codename is" The man  
was amazing, he had known exactly what I had been thinking; it was an honor  
to be in his presence. Silence was the theme of the car ride back to  
Dragons HQ, the place that held my future in the palm of its hand. When we  
arrived to the building we were surrounded by a number of people all in  
black trench coats. I expected they're to be a welcoming committee but this  
was amazing, there must have been 500 people. We were rushed into a  
humongous dining room, where I was told to sit down. I was sitting in a row  
with about 50 people that seemed to be my age, I didn't know any of them,  
and so I doubted that Alex and Maurice had actually been drafted. Through  
the crowd a man with a large black cape stood forward and walked up to a  
microphone located right behind us.  
"Thank you all for coming to the initiation of the new recruits,  
please remain silent as I say the name of the recruit and assign him a  
trainer. After he is assigned a master, he will speak his codename." The  
man spoke with a gravelly voice, I thought that he was the leader of this  
syndicate, but he was only one of the generals. His name was Sczai and he  
had long black hair and frigid green eyes that were as sharp as daggers. As  
he started to name people my eyes slowly drifted away from him and turned  
to the audience, there was a number of intimidating looking people in the  
crowd, along with many pushovers. I didn't know it then but none of them  
were pushovers they had been drafted for a reason, the same reason I was  
there. Half way through the list of people he mentioned a name all to  
familiar to me.  
"Our next recruit is Alex Tosh. Alex specialty is sword combat and  
has chosen the katana as his main weapon. Alex's master will be Mao Yenrai  
and will be trained as the defensive specialist of the group. What is your  
new code name Alex?"  
"My new name...................... Is Viscous." Alex looked totally different. He  
had white hair, which made him look very mature, and was wearing long baggy  
green pants and a black tank top shirt with a Dragon on the front.  
Apparently he had been drafted after all.  
Sczai continued on with the initiation, "Our next recruit is Maurice  
McLarkin, he is trained in the style of jeet keen do and his weapon of  
choice is Colt 45. Automatic, his master will be....................... Allen Marcus, he  
will be trained to be the offensive specialist; and what will your new name  
be"?  
"You can call me Spike", said Maurice nonchalantly. He had green hair  
that covered his eyes and had on a black leather jacket and dark blue denim  
jeans. The clothing I picked out was much different than the others. A few  
minutes past and Sczai called my name.  
"The next recruit is Cid Marcus". I could hear the mutters of the  
crowd, they all knew who my brother was and couldn't wait to see what I  
could do. "He is also trained in jeet keen do, and has chosen to use an  
ancient saber as his weapon, he will by trained by his brother and I know  
we cant wait to see what's in store for him". I had no idea how much of a  
focal point I would become. "He will be trained as the defensive  
specialist", and what will your new name be?"  
"I will be known as Loki", what could be a more deserving name? I  
was expected, by everyone to do great and amazing things, but as chances  
were I couldn't live up to the expectations. I had become Loki. Minutes  
past and more names were read, I only became more worried about what was to  
come. I was in a strange place with people that could have been murderers  
or thieves. I really didn't understand what Szcai meant by defensive  
specialist, but I knew that I would be playing that roll in this game of  
life and death. Finally after an hour of sitting on my ass, we all were  
taken into groups of five. Allen was leading the five of us to a room that  
looked allot like a library. We had no idea what was going on until Allen  
explained it to us.  
Okay here' how it goes, the five of you have been assigned to be my  
pupils, you will all refer to me as Sensei, you five will be sticking  
together for sometime so its best that you all get to know each other. Fox  
and Moses have already been training for two years, so next to me they will  
be your seniors; you will show the respect since they will have your back.  
I'm going to drop you five off in the library so you can actually get to  
know each other. Ill be back in exactly nine hours and fifty two minutes.  
Have fun", what a shit-face he was just going to leave us here without  
water for 10 hours, I had been told that my brother was a strict warrior  
and that being his first pupils would be hard, but I thought that he  
wouldn't be cruel.  
authors note: for the rest of the chapter there will be primarily  
dialogue, so instead of having to do the stupid quote things I will just  
Put the first letter of the name of the person who is talking. I know what  
your thinking and yes I am a lazy SOB.  
L= Loki  
S= Spike  
F= Fox  
M= Moses  
D= Drive  
  
Time: 3:57 AM  
  
I was right we were in a stupid library; it was a huge library though. With  
enough books to keep Einstein busy for ages. There were two levels of  
books, and a huge statue of a dragon in the middle of the room. We were all  
just sitting, not saying anything. Moses decided to break the silence.  
M: "So how's it going, first time u rookies have been here right? You'll  
definitely get used to it eventually. The long nights, the harsh training  
it'll all be fine. Me and Fox'll be here for u midgets." He seemed like a  
nice guy, he was about 16 and had black hair and brown eyes; he looked like  
an average kid.  
S: "Were not pushovers man, Loki here took out a Tiger; and I helped kill  
a Tiger drug lord. What have you done?" This wasn't like Spike, he was  
always really nice to people.  
L: "Dude calm down. Its really no big deal, we're all here to train, and  
since were going to be in this room for 10hrs we may as well make the best  
of it. Wow that was quite possibly the gayest thing I've ever said if you  
guys want to you can beat the crap out of me." I decided to take off my  
coat it was really hot in here, I could see that the tension was being  
relieved. Everyone started to take off whatever there heavy uniform was. I  
noticed that Fox was staring at me, she was an odd one, but amazing  
nonetheless.  
F: "What are you looking at lover boy, turn your ass around, or do you  
want me to pierce the other nostril".  
L: "What the hell is your problem, I was sleeping and you ran in and  
shoved a needle through my nose". All that tension was coming back.  
M: "Seriously guys there is no need to argue It'll all be fine, remember  
were a team and"  
F and L: "Shut up"  
F: "If you had been smarter you wouldn't have let me get you like that, if  
its anyone's fault its yours, you rat bastard."  
L: "How was it my fault, I thought I could trust you in our own apartment  
you stupid bitch. Why don't you do the whole world a big favor and fucking  
kill yourself?"  
F: "You, how dare y" she couldn't even finish her sentence before she ran  
off crying I think I went to far.  
S: "Wow, what a lovely day it is. The only thing that could make this day  
better is a taste of good old hatred, but sadly we've got plenty of that.  
D: "She deserved it"  
S: "Well Ms. Silence finally talks, how would you know that"  
D: "She was being obnoxious, and she pierced your nose from what I could  
hear."  
L: "At least there's one person on my side, what's your name? This girl  
was dressed in all black, she had an inverted mushroom cut and a dagger  
sticking out of her left boot.  
D: "Drive".  
L: "Well I'm Loki, what exactly did you do to get in here"?  
D: "I had sex with Sczai"  
All: "What!?!?, how old are you"  
D: "17"  
M: "Your under aged that's illegal, he could be arrested"  
S: "Wow what a bunch we have here, Captain Obvious, Slutty Mc Slut, Mr.  
Overreaction, Hopeful suicide girl, and me Mr. Sarcasm.  
D: "Actually you can call me the chronic liar". This girl had totally  
tricked us; she had made us believe something that couldn't have been true,  
besides she probably wasn't even 17. New recruits were usually 16.  
L: "What did you really do"  
D: "I'm a hacker. I was just playing online a little while. Creating some  
false accounts, stealing credit card info, and looking at the new products  
companies would be releasing. I hacked my way into a site that was huge,  
colossal. I tried to find information but the programs were guarded so  
tightly It would take a year to get 1% of one done. I tried to X out of the  
server but it wouldn't let me, my computer was to valuable to shut down  
manually, I had too much important information stored on it.  
M: "So you hacked the dragons programs and got caught"?  
D: "A few days later they came to my house, 3 men in black coats. They said  
that they should kill me right there and then, but someone stopped them,  
your brother Loki. Allen said that I would be a great use for the squad  
that he was forming, he said that I would be perfectly suited for it." I  
never really knew my brother was so kind to people he worked with. He moved  
out of the house when he was drafted at 16.  
L: "What about you Moses? You've been here a while what did you do?"  
M: "Well, when I was your age I was robbed by a member of the White  
Tigers. He took my wallet and ran, I decided not to chase him because I  
only had $2.50 in my wallet anyway. A few days passed and I noticed that  
the thief was always passing through this street at approximately 4:27 pm.  
It was as though he would go to a meeting everyday, well one day I followed  
him silently around every street corner. He was meeting a man in a back-  
alley; he was getting drugs or something along that line. When he was  
returning to HQ, I was jumping across building roofs. He must have decided  
that it was a bad idea to walk along the main streets so he cut along some  
back streets. I was following him like a hawk the whole time. I might not  
have caught him if he hadn't been such a shmuck, the man decided to take a  
piss on the wall. It was to good to be true, I climbed down on an emergency  
fire escape and snuck up behind the man, and put him in a sleeper hold, and  
after he passes out I took his wallet and stole all of the money in it.  
When I was leaving the street I was shoved violently by a man I a black  
trench coat, and in a matter of seconds he had a katana to my throat. He  
said that it was not very nice to steal from people and said that he'd been  
watching me for some time now, and that he wanted me in his syndicate, and  
now I'm hear as the strategist unit."  
L: "That's allot more complicated then my story, I just got into a fight  
with a guy that happened to be part of the White Tigers, but of course I  
won".  
S: "Vicious and I beat up a White Tigers drug lord, it wasn't anything  
special."  
F: "I pick pocketed Mao Yenrai, he was impressed and thought that he could  
use me." Well she was back and she seemed a little better. Even though we  
were so different; we were all here and there was nothing we could do. We  
were a unit now, and we knew that we had each others back's. We were like  
opposites that were similar. 


	8. The Judgement

authors note about 8 hours passed from the big fight thing, I would write down all 8 hours but for the sake of my fingers and your eyes I decided to just finish the scene quickly so I can get back to the action.  
  
8:52 A.M.  
  
Time had been flying we really weren't talking anymore. Fox was really angry and I was pissed off. Moses was in his own little world, and it seemed that Drive was smoking in a corner somewhere. Spike and I were talking.  
  
S: "So you beat up Jeff, huh? You heard what happened with Jack and Alice right. Never thought that they would be against us, right man"?  
  
L: "Wait, what the hell happened? Are they okay?"  
  
S: "I can't believe that you didn't hear it, Jack a Tiger now. Jack killed one of the Red Dragon drug lords, they said that the guy was trying to take advantage of Alice or something."  
  
L: "NO way! Jack could never kill anyone, even if they were trying to do something with Alice. He couldn't, that's not the kid we know. Are you sure that he didn't just beat the guy up really badly."  
  
S: "Seriously dude, he killed him, and apparently someone was watching the fight and he got drafted. You know what might happen right?"  
  
L: "HOW COULD HE DO THAT! He's not a monster. But what the hell can happen. I have no idea, enlighten me." I was in serious denial; I just didn't want to think of him or Alice anymore.  
  
S: "In about a month there is this big tournament. All of the rookie Dragon members fight against rookie Tiger guys. Since you and Jack are so evenly matched I wouldn't be surprised if you two fought each other. It'd be a great fight in my opinion but your going to have to train really well; we all know how fast Jack learns things."  
  
L: "Well then what the hell are we waiting for, we've gotta start training man, lets go right now. I want to fucking spar. Bring it on." I was really fucking excited, when I want to do something I make sure that I do it before everyone else.  
  
S: "Dude calm down. We both know that you can kick my ass, lets wait for our actual training.  
  
L: "Whatever man, I'm gonna go down the corridor and fight against some chairs ya faggot". I was walking out of the room when I noticed a spinning light bulb. It was on the ceiling just hanging by some sort of cord. It was just spinning there peacefully, it wasn't bothering anyone, and I was bored so I decided to knock it down. I walked past it and flipped backwards and kicked it off the ceiling. It was much like the kick I used on Jeff, it had perfect synchronicity. The bulb fell to the floor and cracked into many tiny pieces. As I walked down the hall I saw a shadow, and I heard someone's voice. It was coming from a door around the corner. I looked inside a window and saw that it was Fox, she seemed to be yelling at someone, but it also appeared that she was yelling at herself. I was doubting her sanity at this point, she seemed to have almost no judgment when it came to dealing with people. I was afraid that she might hurt herself. I would have checked in on her if the chiming of a clock didn't startle me.  
  
9:00 AM  
  
Allen walked in right on schedule, he was carrying a katana. I had never known that he knew how to sword fight. His sword was much longer than the average katana. It had a stainless steal blade and a blood red handle; the blade was so sharp that it could cut a blade of grass in half. Allen was looking at me in sheer disgust, but I had no idea what I had done.  
  
A: "Everybody get your Asses over here, we've got stuff to do. First of all give me your weapons, for you to learn to fight with them you'll need to learn how to fight with out them. Just throw them in a pile you'll get them back in 5 months." Allen had a very weird training method; it was his first year as a sensei and needed to establish boundaries.  
  
A:" You all have your own objectives you must never forget them. You must know what your boundaries are and what you're job is.  
  
Spike, you are the offensive specialist; you will train to lead us in combat. You will be the first person we send to battle. Your only limit is that you can never turn back once you start something, and I mean never.  
  
Drive, you are the hacker; you will mostly hack into databases and help your squad members, you wont see much action.  
  
Moses, your our recon; you will handle night missions and will be the 1st option when it comes to body guard missions. Forget about using a sword, your gonna have to train with a sniper.  
  
Fox, you're the spy; its your job to know everything about the enemy, you'll have to pretend to be one of their agents at times.  
  
Loki, you are Defensive specialist. You will have to train with Spike because your styles will have to flow together like two waves. You will be held responsible for the well being of the entire troop; you will never go out to battle first. You probably wont want your sword either. Isn't good for protection. Starting from right now you all must pick a sparring partner, you will live with this person, you will fight with this person and you will possibly DIE with this person. Who wants to choose first.  
  
D: "Since me and Fox are the only girls I guess were partners huh." Allen shook his head in agreement.  
  
M: "Well, I think it would be a good idea for me and Spike to fight each other because he will need a mentor other than you sensei. Spike will be my partner."  
  
S: But aren't Loki and I supposed to be a team?  
  
A: "Yes, but you only need to know each others tactics not their fighting styles, and besides you both know the same style anyway.  
  
L: "Fine, but if they're partners you're my partner Allen. And I want you to fight me as though you were fighting your worst enemy."  
  
A: "What ever, but I will have no problem kicking your ass."  
  
L: "I wouldn't have it any other way." 


	9. The Powerful Tides, 1st Step To Madness

5 months after the training had begun,  
  
It was out last day of basic training, we were nearly done. Days months had passed and we were finally ready for the big leagues. We finished our training and had to be initiated as full-fledged Dragon. We had all worked our asses off, long nights and dark days were what we had grown to live for. We were given no sympathy. If one person failed something we all failed it. Training had been a bitch though. We worked 18 hours a day, doing what seemed to be non-stop sparring, obstacle courses, and simulated target practice. We had all become true fighters; even drive had learned a thing or two. We had all changed in the months that we had been training. I had grown several inches and I had shaved off the red hair, I had my natural curly black hair. I was still wearing the nose ring though. I expected to learn how to fight with my specific sword but I had been learning how to fight with an average katana. No one really knew about ancient swords so I would just have to make due with what I knew. Surprisingly we all had become much closer than we were at the beginning. We were all so different, but we had learned to co-exist.  
  
The biggest change had probably occurred with Fox and I. When we first met I couldn't stand her, but as the days passed we became friends. She lived in the apartment with Allen and I, so it was always good to have her there. We even shared a room. I could trust her with almost anything. As expected Spike and I had become synchronized fighters, we each had the same style and our movements were almost always exact. Spike's hair was much different now; it had grown quite a few inches. It was like he had a green afro. He had become a great Marksman; he was the greatest shot that I had ever seen. He could hit a penny from 100 feet away, and he could call heads and it he would be right. Drive had become everything that we expected her to become, she was a genius. She could hack any computer system in the entire galaxy, and to top it off she was running a search engine .com company. Drivedragon.com.  
  
Moses hadn't changed a bit in the 5 months that we'd been training. He was still the same nice and intelligent dude that we knew since the beginning. He had emerged as the leader of our group, and he definitely was our leader. He had been meditating allot, which definitely attributed to his fighting style. H was our recon unit, but instead of learning the traditional "splinter cell" technique he had specialized in ninjutsu. That's right we have a ninja.  
  
Today was the "graduation". This was a very different concept than the school graduation. Today was the day that we all worked so hard for. For the group to pass and not be trained for another 5 months, one of the members had to defeat the sensei, or in this case Allen. If no one could defeat him, than we would have to be trained until we beat him after the next 5 months. We all were thinking who would fight; it would be Moses, Spike, or well me.  
  
1 hour before the "graduation"  
  
Spike was at the shooting range, trying to "concentrate". Drive busy being a creature of habit; she was smoking in the bathroom. Fox was flirting with some other guys and Moses and I were meditating in the library. I didn't meditate as often as Moses did, but I would try to work it in as regular training method. It was dark in the library, it was also silent. We had been sitting there for almost 5 hours, and I felt as if I was reaching my peak. All I was thinking about was fighting Allen. I didn't even know if I'd be fighting him, but I would want to. I should fight him, I thought, I could win. The ghostly silence was broken by Moses' frantic speaking.  
  
M: "Loki! Open your eyes. You're not going to believe this. Open your eyes". He was screaming at this point. As I opened my eyes I felt my ass hit the hard carpet of the library, which we all knew so well.  
  
L: "What, what happened?"  
  
M: "Dude you were floating, honest to god. You were off the ground, hovering. It was amazing."  
  
L: "How could I have been floating, its physically impossible. What am I a bird"?  
  
M: "Dude, I know its sounds crazy but you really were floating, for a few seconds. Didn't you feel your body fall down?"  
  
L: "Yeah, I guess so, but that cant happen. People can't fly, unless."  
  
M: "Unless what?"  
  
L: I could have reached my full chakra, and I could have ascended past my old limitations, but that's impossible, it takes years for that to happen."  
  
M: "I'm just telling you what I saw, you were floating, but lets forget about that for now, we've gotta get ready for the fight. So, who do think should fight Allen?"  
  
L: "To be honest, I think I should. I've seen Allen fight my whole life, he had taught me allot of what I know today, I think that the best payment for him teaching me, is to beat the living crap out of him. I know my brother; he'd want me to fight him.  
  
M: "What ever you say man, just don't lose. He could probably anticipate my ninja moves anyhow." I knew Moses was disappointed, he was our leader but I had to step up.  
  
L: "I'm gonna go. I think I'll go to the arena early, so I can make some kind of strategy."  
  
I abruptly left the library and walked down the corridor leading to the arena. In the hall I saw Fox making out with some random guy from another group. She had either some serious emotional disorders, or she was just a whore. I was thinking she was allot of both. She seemed surprised when I passed her by; I decided not to make eye contact, which would make things even more awkward. I kept walking down the hallway until I got to the stadium. It wasn't really a stadium, it was a circular ring surrounded by tons and tons of chairs. It really reminded me of the ditch. Totally secluded to the public, only seen by a select few. In the middle of the arena was a man, just training. He was fighting the air as though it was fighting back, he had lightening fast movements, his style seemed to be perfect. As I slowly approached him I saw who it was, it was Allen. I should have known who it was, I had seen that style every day as we trained together.  
  
As I approached Allen he turned his attention toward me, he wasn't sweating at all, which was surprising since he had been training so hard. He would always break an early sweat sparring, but something was different today. It may have been the silence in the room, or the calm breeze passing in through the open window, but I felt something from Allen. He was intense, he showed no fatigue, but showed a great amount of effort. This was the real Allen, this was not the sensei, nor partner, nor the dragon member, this was my brother, the strongest man I had ever known. His dead eyes stared into me like knives, I had interrupted him and he had been pissed. He had been training so hard but at this point, but he didn't look tough, he looked more vulnerable than I had ever seen him before. As our eyes met, the wind seemed to stop blowing, and the tides themselves were changing. I couldn't even look at my brother, and I was ashamed for him. He knew that I would fight him later in that day, but he also knew that he couldn't win. Why else would he be training, he would never train unless he was tutoring us. I was terrified of what he actually was on the outside; he was a man who had worked his way up the ladder of greatness. He had defeated many opponents and had demonstrated his bravery on a regular basis. He had been the youngest trainer of all time, but that wasn't what he was. He was just like me, a kid trying to survive and live up to a reputation. As I stared at the disgusting figure standing in front of me, I shed a single tear. It was not a tear of sadness, it was a tear if pity. I had lost respect in him. It would be the last tear I would ever cry for him or anyone. As I turned to walk out of the stadium my brother began to speak.  
  
A: "What was the first thing I told you, never show your emotion."  
  
L: "Yeah, and maybe if follow your rules I'll end up just like you". I said I said with a snicker. Then I had seen my brother cry for the first time in my life, he was more human than he let on, and with that I left the room. As I opened the rickety exit doors of the stadium to see that my entire group had been watching. Fox was crying, Moses was speechless, and Spike had the most emotionless expression on his face. I never wanted to see him like that again. I didn't talk to any of them, I had nothing to say.  
  
8:00 PM, The beginning of my new life  
  
It was time for the fight. Everyone other than Allen and I were all in the stadium, awaiting the fight of a century. Brother vs. Brother; David vs. Goliath. I walked down that same hallway leading to the stadium, I was wearing my red trench coat and the rest of my uniform, it was the first time that I could wear it since the day at the library 5 months ago. As I opened the set of creaky swinging doors I heard the cheer of the crowd, there were people cheering for me. There were some that were cursing me out, but it didn't matter I knew how the fight would end. I stepped into the ring 10 feet away from Allen, he was wearing his uniform. It was much like mine except he had a black coat instead of a red one. I could see my friends out in the crowd; they were all staring at me, their destinies resting in my two hands. Surprisingly I saw Vicious, he had changed, but I wasn't sure if it was a good thing or a bad thing. His eyes had lost their initial shade of green and had been replaced by a crippling bluish gray. I turned my attention away from the crowd and back towards Allen. He was nervous but there was no way he would ever show it to the crowd. He was thinking of a way to make me lose focus, but that would never happen. We started to stare each other down again; neither of us were flinching this time. I accepted what he had become, and he knew what I had become. Every day we would spar, and every day he would beat me, but yesterday I tied him. The tides were changing, and it was my turn. The awkward silence was broken by Sczai.  
  
S: "Welcome to the moment of faith, the moment of destiny, and the moment of truth. Brothers will be pitted against each other in a fight for moral superiority. Shade will fight Loki, Allen will fight Cid, and Marcus will fight Marcus. Will Shade be beaten by his younger brother? What would that mean? But I have one more question for you, ARE YOU READY?" The people in the crowd started cheering loudly. "Are you ready?" Sczai was one hell of a leader; he could motivate an entire syndicate with only 11 letters. He reminded me of Cyrus from that really old movie "The Warriors". And with that the fight of a lifetime started.  
  
The fight was beginning and we were both very anxious. Who ever kept his composure would be victorious. We stood facing each other, nose to nose, eye to eye; just recalling every day that we had trained, hoping for some type of opening or weakness. There were none. I was looking into his terror filled eye, wondering what he must be thinking, it was stupid of me; when I was thinking he threw the first punch.  
  
WORDS IN ITALICS ARE PART OF A SONG.  
  
Baby life is like a ride on the freeway Dodging bullets while your trying to find your way.  
  
His punches were lightening fast, each quicker and deadlier than the last one, but I was moving faster than Allen was. I dodged every one of them without a problem, when he realized that his plan wasn't working he tried to execute a spin kick. I ducked under his leg and punched him directly in the stomach.  
  
Everyone's around, but no one does a damn thing. It brings me down. But I wont ever let them.  
  
It was the strongest punch I had ever thrown, he should have broken all his ribs. I thought that I had won when I saw the trickles of blood running down his chin. I was over confident in my own abilities. As I diverted my attention away from him, he scored a deadly uppercut to my chin. I flew what seemed to be 6 feet into the air.  
  
If I seem bleak, then you'd be correct And if I don't speak its because I cant disconnect  
But I won't be burned by the reflection  
  
Of the fire in your eyes  
  
As you're staring at the sun  
  
I was launched into the air, there would be no graceful landings this time. I saw Allen's face, it was very sad looking; as though he was sad to have hit me. I hit the hard concrete with a large banging sound. My back was in extreme pain, this was to be expected though. As I was lying on my back I realized that I had to take this fight seriously, I had to put in every ounce of my effort into this. I had risen from the ground demonstrating my durability. This wasn't over yet.  
  
When I ran I didn't feel like a run away When I escaped I didn't feel like I got away There's more to living than only surviving Maybe I'm not there, but I'm still trying.  
  
I had risen from the ashes, just to be hit down again. Allen kicked my cranium in an act of pure desperation, but I still got up. He threw another punch, I forcefully grabbed his hand. I wasn't going to let him go. He was showing fear at this point. I knew I would win.  
  
L: "Rule number 1, never shows emotion".  
  
With that I palm striked him in the sternum. I felt his chest collapse from the sheer power of my palm. All the blood that was in his chest flew out of his mouth. Creating what seemed to be a wave of blood. He flew high up into the air, his body seemed to be hovering up above the floor. I ran with lightening speed to his floating body, I crouched down under his body and punched directly upward catching his head. I thought that I heard his neck snap. I had won. I didn't have to celebrate, because after I knew he was unconscious I passed out myself.  
  
Though you hear me, I don't think that you relate My will is something that you can't confiscate So forgive me, but I wont be frustrated By destruction in your eyes As you're staring at the sun.  
  
- Staring at The Sun (Offspring)  
  
I woke up hours later in a foreign hospital bed. I saw a bright light and a fan rotating gracefully above me. I gingerly rose up in my bed to see that Vicious was sitting in a chair next to the door. He stood up from the chair and started to talk.  
  
V: "Way to go man, you made it. You totaled Shade."  
  
L: "What do you mean I made it?"  
  
V: "You beat Allen, and you did beat him."  
  
L: "Okay cool, but is he okay?"  
  
V: "You hurt him pretty badly, he broke both his arms and has like 4 concussions, but hell be fine in a few months.  
  
L: "So everyone in my group graduated?"  
  
V: "Not exactly, the 2 girls in your group didn't progress enough to graduate. So they'll be training for another 5 months. Spike and Moses made it though. They'll be part of our group.  
  
L: Who else is in our group."  
  
V: "First of all were not a group anymore, were a fleet, and the other 2 people are right in the lobby." Almost on cue the two other members entered the tattered hospital bed. One was a very skinny, almost nerdy looking guy. The other was a girl, she looked pretty, but she was nothing special.  
  
L: "Who are you guys?" The girl spoke first.  
  
M: "My name is Stephanie, but you guys have to call me Mage."  
  
L: "Okay I'll make a note of that, and who's Mr. Skinny?"  
  
T: "Hey, my names Tom; but call me Twig. I'm the hacker."  
  
L: Well I'm Loki, and if you guys don't mid I'm going to pass out again.  
  
This was going to be quite a bumpy ride. Our fleet consisted of Green Hair, Gray Eyes, Mr. ADD, what seemed to be another whore, the nerd, and me the Leader? Was I? 


	10. Unforgiven

Life was changing; I had new people to care about, new people to worry about and new people to trust. My new partners were Twig and Mage.  
  
Twig was our new hacker. Twig was 15 and had short brown hair and Thick glasses that covered his dark brown eyes. He wasn't a very tall guy; he was only 5'6 or 5'7. He was supposedly a genius, a child protégé and the greatest hacker in 30 years. He was a brilliant inventor as well; he invented headsets that could reach around the entire galaxy. This was his second year in the Red Dragons and hadn't seen much action during the year before. Aside from being a mental giant he was also a perverted slime ball. He would always be on his computer pumping a system for info or pumping...well something else.  
  
Then there was Mage.  
  
Mage was supposedly our spy, but she really didn't do much work. She was 15 and had long black hair. Her hair usually would be covering her brown eyes. She would have been gorgeous if it weren't for her braces, but that's just one of my preferences. A girl can be a supermodel but if she has braces I don't even take a second glance; other people didn't feel the same way about her. The only thing she was really good at was manipulating horny guys to do her bidding, which was usually very tedious. They would do anything for her it seemed, no matter how ridiculous. They probably thought that she was easy, but I never bought into it, she was just a girl that knew how to get want she wanted. There wasn't anything wrong with that, but I would never become one of her tools.  
  
I had been in the hospital for about a week. I had surprisingly recovered from my injuries. I had broken my left arm, 2 ribs, and I had multiple concussions, but I healed pretty quickly. Allen wasn't that lucky, he was still in critical condition. I would have stayed in the hospital longer, but I had to start my first mission.  
  
I got back to HQ very late on Monday December 17. It was snowing outside, the white snow reflected off the glass revolving doors of the building. I was back home, and was ready to take charge. My entire group was being briefed on the mission when I walked into the room while we were staying. The mission was simple, but would be very complicated to complete without any flaws.  
  
The White Tigers were going to deliver a briefcase full of $1,000,000 to a local arms dealer. It was my job to intercept the briefcase, while killing any Tigers that I could find. I also couldn't become noticed by any police officers. I would also have Spike and Moses helping me. Moses would be leading this mission.  
  
The drive to the destination point was a short one, but it felt like an eternity. I was unbelievably nervous and sat in my seat listening to my mp4 player. (That's right I made up a fictional futuristic device to mock the devices in our time period). Moses was meditating as usual. He normally would have his eyes closed but this time he had them wide open in case someone was following us. Spike was twiddling his thumbs like a moron, but he didn't seem nervous, he never seemed nervous.  
  
When we arrived at our destination the gentle afternoon sky had shifted into an angry see of clouds and rain. The alley where we were waiting smelled of urine and blood. It looked like a place where bums would fight for a ham sandwich that had been out in the sun for a little too long.  
  
We had been sitting idly at the ally until we saw a black truck pull into the street across from us. 4 men stepped out of the car, I couldn't see any of their faces though. They walked into the building to there right, which was stained with graffiti.  
  
They walked up to the top floor of the building, which we could easily see through thanks to the large church style window on that floor. There was a man in an over coat with a briefcase of his own. After a brief discussion they exchanged briefcases, that when Moses gave us the signal to run across the street and to slash there tires. Moses was on the top of a building on our side of the street with a sniper rifle.  
  
Before we had anytime to react the deal was over and the people were leaving the building; before the first man could leave Moses took his shot, shooting the guns dealer in the head. The other men quickly ran down the steps quickly. Spike was waiting for them at the bottom of the stairwell. He surprised the leading man when he popped out from behind the corner. He shot with his pistol for the first time, shooting the man 5 times in the chest, blood splattering everywhere, causing a mist of confusion for the other Tigers. They all ran back up the stairs and jumped out a window in the back of the building. There fall was cushioned by a crap-filled dumpster. The three ran for the car which was right next to where I was standing, from here I could see one of the faces of the men we were after. It was Jeff, the kid I had fought 5 months ago. He looked exactly the same as he did all those months ago. Once he noticed my presence he ran in the opposite direction, away from me. The other tow men continued towards me, the first man approached me with a katana. He slashed at my head with great force; I easily dodged the blow and sliced his neck with my sword. I slit his jugular in two and his neck was slipping off its hinges. The other man quickly put his gun up to my face, sensing him I shifted my sword to a position right in front of his neck. That's when I lifted my head and saw the man that was trying to kill me; the man that I was trying to kill. It was Jack, he had grown allot and had a rough looking beard now. His expression was a very serious one, which was very different from the Jack I knew. We then stared into each other eyes, feeling sympathy and bitter hatred for the other one.  
  
L: Jack.........  
  
J: I'm not Jack anymore, Cid im Jack......... The Ripper.  
  
L: I'm not Cid anymore, I'm Loki.  
  
J: Well, Loki next time I see you Ill have to kill you.  
  
L: Why don't you kill me now.  
  
J: You wouldn't have a chance at killing me now, I want it to be a good fight.  
  
He then shifted the gun to the side of my head and fired. Then he ran at such a speed that made me look slow. As he ran Spike and I stared at our once friend. I turned backwards to see Moses lying on the ground in a pool of blood. He had been shot in the stomach and was bleeding rapidly. I then told Spike to take him to a hospital. Minutes past and I just stood there pondering the decision that I just made, I could have killed Jack and saved Moses, but then I would have killed Jack. I shifted my attention from the Ripper( Jack will now be referred to as Ripper) and looked at the corpse lying below me. I had practically taken his head off. I couldn't believe what I had done, I killed a man. I killed a fucking human being in cold blood. I felt like a monster. I fell to the floor in disgust of my own actions, I then vomited on my shirt. I was a monster. I sat in a dark alley next to my victim with vomit on my shirt for about an hour before I stood up an walked. As I walked 5 miles to HQ I thought about how I could never forgive Ripper, how I could never forgive myself. We would forever remain UNFORGIVEN. --------------------------------------------------------------------------  
New blood joins this earth  
  
And quickly he's subdued  
  
Through constant pained disgrace  
  
The young boy learns their rules  
  
With time the child draws in  
  
This whipping boy done wrong  
  
Deprived of all his thoughts  
  
The young man strugggles on and on he's known  
  
A vow unto his own  
  
That never from this day  
  
His will they'll take away  
  
Chorus  
  
What i've felt  
  
What i've known  
  
Never shined through in what i've shown  
  
Never be  
  
Never see  
  
Won't see what might have been  
  
What i've felt  
  
What i've known  
  
Never shined through in what i've shown  
  
Never free  
  
Never me  
  
So i dub thee UNFORGIVEN  
  
They dedicate their lives  
  
To running all of his  
  
He tries to please then all  
  
This bitter man he is  
  
Throughout his life the same  
  
He's battled constantly  
  
This fight he cannot win  
  
A tired man they see no longer cares  
  
The old man then prepares  
  
To die regretfully  
  
That old man here is me  
  
Chorus  
  
You labeled me  
  
I'll label you  
  
So i dub thee UNFORGIVEN  
  
Metallica- Unforgiven 


	11. First Trip Down That Hole of Life

3 months had passed since the first encounter with Jack or should I say Ripper. I had been on an ever-constant string of missions and had just been sleeping off an injury. 3 highly trained Tigers had jumped me. I killed the three of them, but one of them shot me in the stomach. Thankfully I had enough energy to walk back to my apartment where Fox helped me out. This was allot like the injury Moses had. He had only been in bed for about 5 days, but I had been in my bed for about a week. Fox had been helping get back on my feet.  
  
I was sitting up in bed next to Fox who had pulled up a chair next to me. I had finally regained my strength. My stomach still hurt very badly, I had also been very cold. I had had a blanket on top of me, the blanket was stained with my blood. It didn't matter to me, this was Coppers blanket. Copper and Allen moved out of the apartment, right after Allen got out of the hospital. They were now the bodyguards of Mao Yenrai. Fox and I were the only two people living in the apartment now. She was training under some new guy and was going to graduate in about 3 months. We had been good friends for a few months and I was starting to see her true side. On the outside she was just a common whore looking for her next tool, but on the inside I saw someone just trying to find acceptance.  
  
As I looked over at her I saw sadness in her eyes. I wondered if that sadness was for me. Her eyes had lost their shine and she looked very tired.  
  
F: what are you looking at?  
  
L: Nothing really, you look tired, you should rest.  
  
F I'm not tired.  
  
L: Trust me, you are tired. You look awful.  
  
F: What, are you calling me ugly?  
  
L NO, not all you're very pretty. You just look tired.  
  
F: What did you say?  
  
L: You look tired.  
  
F: No ones ever said that to me before. They've never used those exact words, no ones ever called me pretty. No ones ever said it so kindly, they've all tried to look tough or intimidating, but that's not important to me. I just want someone kind. You're the only person that is truly kind to me.  
  
L: You know I can never be what you want me to be.  
  
F: Can you try?  
  
She leaned her head towards me, as I did towards her. I felt her hot breath across my face as she leaned closer in. She closed her eyes, and I opened mine... t the truth. I could never do this. I turned my head away and got out of my bed.  
  
L: I' hungry, I'm gonna get a sandwich.  
  
Then I left the apartment. That was the last time I would ever see her or the apartment, and that would be the last time I had been confused about what I was.  
  
I walked down the street where HQ was. I opened the doors and slowly walked up to Allen's room. He stayed in a room with the Copper. As I opened the door I was terrified and all became clear, finally.  
  
Inside Vicious was standing over my brother. He was carrying his katana, which was stained with blood. It took me a second to register what had happened. Vicious killed my brother. I couldn't think of any words to say, I just stared at Vicious and at my brother. Vicious had a sadistic grin on his face. I looked to the far left of the room where my brothers two guns were. They were called Kato and Nash. They were shined silver guns with a large 8-inch barrel that was rectangular shaped. I ran to them, I lunged at the table to grab the guns nearly slipping in the process. I had a firm grip on the two guns and I quickly aimed them toward vicious who was right in front of me. I had the two guns right in front of his face, and he had his sword at my throat.  
  
L: Why'd you do it?  
  
V: Your brother was too strong as are you.  
  
L: What..?  
  
V: You don't think I know about your little "trick" you can slow down time, and I'm the only one who seems to notice. I've been on tons of missions with you and it happens every time you fight. I too have a few tricks, one being the power to speed up time, so you wont want to try anything now. The only thing you should try to do is fall on your back.  
  
Then he pushed me backwards. I slid on the wooden table, which held my brothers guns, then I crashed out of the window. I was 19 floors up. And I hit the ground hard and this is where my story ends.  
  
And where Loki's. 


End file.
